(Original post by Nicholasng925)
Well it's not impossible you know! Incorporating healthy diet along with your exercises does help, at least for me! I've lost further 2kg in just 1 week! I was 81.5kg on Monday and now I'm weighed 79.5kg! OMG OMG OMG excited!

Oh I'm in my forth semester of A-Levels now! Going to sit for A2 exam in this coming May/June! Yeah I'm coming to the UK for university, probably going to firm City Uni. London (Cass Business School) to pursue Actuarial Science.

(Original post by strawberry)
is there a particular reason why Malaysians like actuarial sciences? you could almost do a nationality profile based off majors lol

LOL! I would say a lot of Malaysians are realistic beings and many of them actually thought Actuarial Science is a course to make lots and lots of money. Another reason in common would be, they like doing maths. Truly I've bumped into lots of people who want to venture into this field because of these reasons, and I don't find it impressing.

Many of them do not know what they are going to face (like bumping into a wall blindly), and neither do I since I haven't started my degree. But at least I've done many research on this particular course since I was in my Year 10. I was interested in Engineering course just like many of my peers, but I bumped into Actuarial Science when my dad randomly talked about the difficulty level of this course. I went on and did research on it since I didn't know anything about it, and it truly captivated me since then as I like challenging course. I got so excited to know risk, albeit abstract, can be quantified through statistical theories and probability theories.

I wouldn't say that I really really like it, but I would say I've mentally prepared for the challenge of this course. I prefer not to talk about huge salary actuaries earn since you won't even have the chance to earn that sum if you couldn't pass the exam. Motive of pursuing the course is very important, in my opinion, to sustain the grueling study process. Enjoy it and you will do well!

I would expect many actuarial students to drop out and venture another professions once they realised how the true nature of the course. Kudos to those who are really determined in pursuing it! You guys rocks!

I've met a lot of Malaysians who do actuarial sciences, and it's great that most have the determination to do it ... but I don't think they realize that it's a do or die course. Either you're really good at it, or you won't get a job ... because the main career path for an actuarial scientist (correct me if I'm wrong, this is what I was told) is to predict the market. This involves a lot of company profit ... so if you suck at it, you lose your company millions.

(Original post by strawberry)
I've met a lot of Malaysians who do actuarial sciences, and it's great that most have the determination to do it ... but I don't think they realize that it's a do or die course. Either you're really good at it, or you won't get a job ... because the main career path for an actuarial scientist (correct me if I'm wrong, this is what I was told) is to predict the market. This involves a lot of company profit ... so if you suck at it, you lose your company millions.

It will be good to see many have the determination to do it. But you were wrong on saying main career path for an actuary is to predict the market. Actuaries do not do such thing. What actuaries do depend on what are they specialise in. Life and general insurance actuaries devise insurance premiums to determine how much they should charge individuals, by taking into account many other factors such as actuarial reserve of the company, job of the individuals etc.

There's nothing to do of actuaries predicting the market, cause that's just NOT the actuaries' jobs. Whilst it's possible to predict the market by applying mathematical modelling, it's not the job scope of actuaries to do it. This is within the job scope of quantitative analyst. Some people even say it's impossible to predict the market movement due to random walk occurrence, based on the theory of efficient market hypothesis. It's basically stating that the market price has taken into consideration the demand and supply of all information available, thus is not possible to predict its movement.

But quantitative analysts put less significance on this random walk theory and go on with predicting the market movement by applying mathematical and quantitative models. But often they fail to take into consideration the element of randomness in it. That will be topic for another day though.

So, actuary does nothing about predicting market and stuff. Those are just not their job.

(Original post by justinawe)
I'm thinking of doing this exact combination of subjects. I'm aiming to do MORSE at Warwick or Maths+Economics at somewhere like LSE.

Would you say that this is a good combination of subjects to get into such courses?

also, just curious, what college do you go to?

Yes definitely. If you want to do MORSE at Warwick or Maths and Economics at LSE, it's best to have these subjects taken during A-Levels cause it would have provided you certain level of exposure to maths and economics. It would be even better if you take Further Maths cause MORSE and Maths+Econs definitely involve lots of maths and it will be good if you get yourself equipped with prior knowledge before getting into the university. Physics might not be necessary but it will broaden your option should you choose to go for Engineering course after A-Levels.

Yes it's definitely very interesting! That's why I've even planned to go into this upon completing my actuarial professional papers. Actuarial qualification would be my main aim now, afterwhich would be MSc in Quantitative Finance/Financial Engineering/Mathematical Finance.

I'm a psychology student and for my final year project I'm carrying out a study on mate preferences in different countries, including Malaysia, and I was wondering if any of you would be willing to take part? It's really quick (5 min!), completely anonymous and I would be incredibly grateful to anyone taking part!
The survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Preferensi

Please note that you have to be aged 18 or over, heterosexual and a Malaysian native and resident to take part. Any advice on how to find more participants from Malaysia would also be greatly appreciated!

Are you concerned about reputation? If you are then Warwick is the obvious choice but if actuarial science is definitely your thing then Cass is definitely the better option! The fact that Cass is in London serves a major advantage when it comes to job/internship hunting! Also, life in London is more vibrant than in Conventry! :P

(Original post by studyboy)
Are you concerned about reputation? If you are then Warwick is the obvious choice but if actuarial science is definitely your thing then Cass is definitely the better option! The fact that Cass is in London serves a major advantage when it comes to job/internship hunting! Also, life in London is more vibrant than in Conventry! :P

I'm not really concerned about reputation as I've already secured a job upon graduation. I'm currently sponsored by Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia), so I'm bonded with them. I don't know whether Actuarial Science is my cup of tea although I know quite a lot about it. But acknowledging that I'm still doing my A-Levels, I wouldn't know the truth until I actually started the course.

I have other career paths in mind besides Actuarial Science, so I think Warwick might give me such advantage with its MORSE degree as I would be able to take more optional modules and learn more things, broaden my career opportunities. What say you?

(Original post by Nicholasng925)
I have other career paths in mind besides Actuarial Science, so I think Warwick might give me such advantage with its MORSE degree as I would be able to take more optional modules and learn more things, broaden my career opportunities. What say you?

This is pretty much the main reason why I'm aiming to do MORSE at Warwick... I was looking at doing Actuarial Science for quite a while, but I was worried about what alternative options I would have with an Actuarial Science degree. I still want to be an actuary though, but I think with MORSE or something more flexible, I'll have better career options

Also, a quick question... is it true that AS Level maths is quite similar to add maths?